The Unofficial Furman Football Page

I have made several observations this year of the number of fans our visiting teams bring into Paladin stadium. To use the word “pitiful” would be an overstatement. It is less than pitiful. I’m not even sure they had a majority contingent of player-parents. Even Wofford, just 45 minutes away and ranked #4 had a miserable following.

I say all of this to boast of the contingent of Paladin road warriors in Charleston. We practically filled the temporary bleachers citadel had set up on the visitors’ side. I believe the capacity was about 1,000. I know we’ll probably have a smaller crowd at VMI, but we’ll most likely still outnumber those on the home side. We usually have a good crowd at Mercer, too.

Road Warriors are to be highly commended. I believe the team appreciates the support. (Likewise, the team would appreciate the support at home. Hoping it improves Saturday, though I have no such expectation.)
Disclosure: unfortunately, my only away game so far this year has been Elon.
I really want to try get to VMI and/or to Mercer.
Beat Chattanooga.

Attendance at SoCon games and most other conferences continues to decline. We barely had 6k for homecoming. Citadel had 8k Saturday. I watched a bit of the VMI/UTC game Saturday and UTC's 20k seat stadium looked empty. Sammy usually has about 3k. WCU has good attendance and leads the league. WCU is the only SoCon team that is close to or exceeds 10k a game.Mercer's newness has worn off and there attendance has fallen off the last 2 years. WC continues to inflate figures using Woffy math.

There is no way there was 6,374 butts in the seats at the Woffy game. Cut that number in half to get the correct number.

apaladin wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 29, 2018 10:35 am

Attendance at SoCon games and most other conferences continues to decline. We barely had 6k for homecoming. Citadel had 8k Saturday. I watched a bit of the VMI/UTC game Saturday and UTC's 20k seat stadium looked empty. Sammy usually has about 3k. WCU has good attendance and leads the league. WCU is the only SoCon team that is close to or exceeds 10k a game.Mercer's newness has worn off and there attendance has fallen off the last 2 years. WC continues to inflate figures using Woffy math.

Mercer’s reported attendance for 3 home games this season averages 10,097. Major rainstorms an hour before kickoff into the 1st quarter in their game with WCU negatively affected ‘walk-up’ attendance at that game, the only one of the 3 reported to be below 10,000 @ 8,230.

The ‘math’ for any Team’s reported attendance, can be scrutinized and criticized, but I believe there are specific NCAA guidelines in place providing the ‘allowable’ methodologies (the math) for reporting ‘official attendance.’ I’m sure Furman, Wofford, Mercer, WCU...and the rest of the SoCon & FCS are using these guidelines to derive/report these numbers.

Every game is live streamed now and in Furman's case, home games are also televised. Wasn't the case 10-15 years ago when maybe half the schedule was broadcast. Family of four can save $100+ by staying home and watching basically free of charge.

And yet folks continue to wonder why attendance is down.

Flagman wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 29, 2018 9:01 am

I have made several observations this year of the number of fans our visiting teams bring into Paladin stadium. To use the word “pitiful” would be an overstatement. It is less than pitiful. I’m not even sure they had a majority contingent of player-parents. Even Wofford, just 45 minutes away and ranked #4 had a miserable following.

I say all of this to boast of the contingent of Paladin road warriors in Charleston. We practically filled the temporary bleachers citadel had set up on the visitors’ side. I believe the capacity was about 1,000. I know we’ll probably have a smaller crowd at VMI, but we’ll most likely still outnumber those on the home side. We usually have a good crowd at Mercer, too.

Flag, good point. They said the visitor bleachers were 1500 and credited you (not me) with probably having 1400 there ... thanks to all that went

I too have only been to Elon this year, but the road attendance has looked fantastic. That's one thing that separates a great program from a mediocre one, and it has an effect on the home team/fans: when you look across the stadium and see lots of visiting fans, you know you are playing a serious opponent that takes pride in their program.

apaladin wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 29, 2018 10:35 am

Attendance at SoCon games and most other conferences continues to decline. We barely had 6k for homecoming. Citadel had 8k Saturday. I watched a bit of the VMI/UTC game Saturday and UTC's 20k seat stadium looked empty. Sammy usually has about 3k. WCU has good attendance and leads the league. WCU is the only SoCon team that is close to or exceeds 10k a game.Mercer's newness has worn off and there attendance has fallen off the last 2 years. WC continues to inflate figures using Woffy math.

It should be noted, based on personal observations, that Western's attendance (butts in seats) drops significantly following the halftime performance of the band. A significant number are there just for the band performance. This has not changed in all the years I've been to games in Cullowee.

mathprofhiker wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 29, 2018 8:56 pm

I too have only been to Elon this year, but the road attendance has looked fantastic. That's one thing that separates a great program from a mediocre one, and it has an effect on the home team/fans: when you look across the stadium and see lots of visiting fans, you know you are playing a serious opponent that takes pride in their program.

Furman, perhaps moreso than the other SoCon schools, also has a lot of alums spread around the south that follow the program. You really saw that on display during the run into the playoffs last year. Furman had big road contingents at Samford, Elon and Wofford. Those crowds were, I imagine, largely comprised of different people.

I too was disappointed in the Wofford crowd. I was surprised that a pretty Saturday between those two teams didn't draw particularly well. I presume there were other things going on in town.

I'll be honest, though, the ability to stream games and watch at home probably makes a difference. I'm someone who used to drive up for a home game every year, but with young kids and a decreasing appetite for battling Atlanta traffic, it's much easier just to watch from home.